Thursday, December 4, 2008

from Journal of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland, 1864

(page 9)

Another very singular phenomenon was witnessed at Dhurmsalla on the evening of the same day that the aerolite fell. This appears to have been a succession of igneous meteors, such as fire-balls, or falling and shooting-stars. 

This singular sight did not attract the attention of most people. I quote the account (from the writer who describes it) verbatim—

“I think it was on the evening of the same day that that the meteor fell, that I observed lights in the air; they commenced to appear about 7 p.m. and lasted about three hours till 10. They appeared for about one minute, some for longer, then went out again; other lights appeared in the same place. Sometimes three or four lights appeared in the same place together, and one or two moved off, the others remaining stationary; they looked like fire-balloons, but appeared in places where it was impossible for there to have been any house, or any roads where people could have been; some were high up in the air, moving like fire-balloons, but the greater part of them were in the distance in the direction of the lower hills in front of my house, others were closer to the house, and between Sir Alexander Lawrence's and the barracks. I am sure, from some which I observed closely, that they were neither fire-balloons, lanterns, nor bonfires, or any other thing of that sort, but bona fide lights in the heavens. Though I made enquiries amongst the natives the next day, I have never been able to find out what they were, or the cause of their appearance.”

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